] ■'. ... H 



m 



<r TIP*' ' i 



SPEOAL RfePU5& fHIN . T) 



ART***' 
ON f 






OF 



JOSEPH HODGSON, 



SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



OF THE 









STATE OF ALABAMA, 



XX> THE GOVERNOR, JANUARY, 1871- 




MONTGOMERY, ALA. : 

W. W. SCREWS, STATE Pfi'lNTEB. 

1871. 



/ 



SPECIAL REPORT 



GF 



JOSEPH HODaSON, 



SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



OF TEE 



STATE OF ALABAMA, 



TO THE GOVEKNOR, JANUARY, 1871- 




OF CC 







i 



MONTGOMERY, ALA. : 

W. W. BCBEWS, STATE PEINTER. 

1871. 



- - 






. ,. > » 3 • 



) ' > >' ' 



REPORT. 



Department of Public Instruction, ( 
January 28, 1871. \ 

To His Excellency, 

Robert B. Lindsay, 

Governor of Alabama ': 

Your Excellency has seen proper to address to the Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction the following communi- 
cation ; 

State of Alabama, Executive Department, ) 
Montgomery, January 16, 1871. [ 
Hon. Joseph Hodgson? Sup't of Public Instruction ; 

Sir — Not finding in this office any report of the transac- 
tions of your Department for the past year, I respectfully 
ask you to furnish, at the earliest possible day, all neces- 
sary and proper information in relation to the educational 
interests of the State ; especially as to the success of the 
system in the past, and its prospects in the future. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

EOB'T B. LINDSAY. 

In obedience to your Excellency's wishes, the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction would respectfully submit 
the following 

report : 

Upon his entrance into office on the 22d day of Novem- 
ber, 1870, he found the books and papers of the Depart- 
ment of Education in great confusion. No system of book- 
keeping appeared to have been observed by his immediato 



predecessors in office. It was with the greatest difficulty 
that coirect information could be obtained as to the amounts 
of money paid out to a county during a certain year ; and 
no certain information could be obtained as to whether the 
moneys paid out had been legitimately and properly ap- 
plied. The only information that could be had froi^i the 
records of the office, as to the operations of the Depart- 
ment for the past two years, was derived from fugitive sheets 
of paper, account books in which there were few balances, 
and in which credits for large amounts were noted by pen- 
cil marks which could be easily altered or obliterated, and 
a journal or memorandum book which is not always verified 
by the reports of the State Auditor. 

Immediately upon the present Superintendent's acces- 
sion to office, it became his constitutional duty to preside 
over the Board of Education, which was then in session, 
and which remained in session until December 15th. Du- 
ring the entire session of the Board he was engaged assid- 
uously in his duties as presiding officer, and in co-operating 
with the committees of that body for reforms in the man- 
agement of the system of public schools. It is with pleas- 
ure that he bears testimony to the harmony which marked 
the proceedings of the Board, and to their honest and la- 
borious efforts for the improvement of a Department in 
which the people feel so deep and universal an interest. 

After the adjournment of the Board, it became the duty 
of the Superintendent to revise and codify the school laws. 
It was important that this work should be done at once, as 
a new scholastic year was about to open, and in a few 
weeks new machinery would be put in motion through a 
popular election of Township Trustees and of a Board of 
County Directors consisting of one County Superintendent 
and two Directors, all of whom would need to be informed 
as to the laws before they could enter upon their duties in- 
telligently. 

The difficulty of codifying the school laws was greater 
than the Superintendent imagined when he entered upon 



the work. It became necessary to examine the whole leg- 
islation of the Board of Education for the past two years, 
much of it confused and inconsistent, and to embody it with 
those provisions of the Revised Code which had not been 
repealed by the Board. The whole mass of laws had, then, 
to be classified, and arranged in appropriate chapters, and 
in consecutive sections. .For the information of local offi- 
cers, and for the convenience of this Department, an ap- 
pendix was added to the Code, embracing forms for the 
guidance of officers and teachers, and information as to 
the mode of distributing the school fund, from what sour- 
ces derived, and the amount due each county and township 
from the sixteenth section fund. 

The labor of transcribing and arranging the School Code 
for publication devolved entirely on the State Superintend- 
ent, and engrossed his attention during the vacation of the 
General Assembly. 

Your Excellency will perceive from this statement of 
facts how unprepared is the Superintendent to offer for 
your consideration the annual report for 1870, which it was 
made the constitutional duty of his predecessor to prepare 
and submit to the Governor at least five days before the 
annual meeting of the General Assembly. He would there- 
fore ask your indulgence, if the information now submitted 
is not so explicit or correct as is demanded by the impor- 
tance of a Department which receives and disburses so 
great a proportion of the revenues of the State. 

THE ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT. 

According to the existing laws, the general elections for 
certain State officers occur on the Tuesday after the 
first Monday in November of one year, and for certain 
other State officers on the same day of the succeeding 
year. The General Assembly convenes on the third Mon- 
day of November. Daring the short interval between the 
election and the meeting of the Legislature, it becomes the 
duty of the heads of departments to submit an annual re- 



{•> 

port to the Governor. It happens this year, in the ease of 
this department, and may happen every two years, that 
the Superintendent is not re-elected to office, and that he 
will no longer feel sufficient interest in the department to 
prepare an elaborate report, after his successor shall have 
been elected. It is submitted to your Excellency, whether 
it would not be better to have the constitution so amended 
as to require the annual report of this department to be 
made to the Governor immediately after the close of the 
fiscal year, with the month of September. Such a provision 
would ensure a report from the officer who had supervised 
the labor of the past year, and acquired the experience 
that would give weight and consequence to his suggestions. 

THE SCHOOL YEAR 1866 AND 1867. 

Before the inauguration of the present constitution, the 
law regulating the public schools provided that, by the 
first of December of each year, the State Superintendent 
must send to the county superintendents statements of the 
amount per child which he would pay them at the end of 
the scholastic year, (namely, on the first day of the follow- 
ing December,) and also the amount due each township of 
the county for the scholastic year then closed. The pres- 
ent school system, which has gained an advantage in this 
respect, by the hiatus of one year, resulting from recon- 
struction of the State government, provides for a distribu- 
tion at the beginning of the scholastic year, instead of at 
its close, thereby facilitating the payment of teachers. In 
this respect the present system has a great advantage over 
the old system. 

Upon the books of this department, under the old sys- 
tem, the apportionment made on the 1st day of Decem- 
ber, 1S66, covered the year beginning December 1, 1865, 
and closing December 1, 1866. The apportionment made 
December 1, 1867, covered the scholastic year December 1 
1866, to December 1, 1867. 



The late Superintendent, in his last annual report (1869), 
said : 

" I would respectfully ask the attention of your Excel- 
lency to the fact, that upon a careful examination of the 
books in this office, upon taking possession of it, I found 
that the previous government, under the administration of 
Governor Patton, failed to pay the public school money 
apportioned for the school year 1866, to quite a number of 
counties of this State. It also failed to pay the public 
school money apportioned for the school year of 1867, to 
a much larger number of counties. Some of the County 
Superintendents received the public school moneys thus 
apportioned for the years 1866 and 1867, either in part or 
in whole, as our books show ; but others received none 
whatever, notwithstanding public schools were taught. 
There seems to be no satisfactory reason to be had from 
any source, explaining why it was that some of the coun- 
ties received their apportionment of these public school 
funds, while others did not obtain any portion thereof." 

The superintendent thereupon made the following state- 
ment : 



8 



STATEMENT OF SCHOOL FUNDS DUE THE SEVERAL COUNTIES AS TEH APPORTION- 
MENT FOR 186(5 AND 1867. 



Counties. 



Apportion- 
ment of I860. 



Barbour. . 

Blount 

Calhoun. . . 
Chambers. 
Cherokee. . 
Choctaw. . , 

Coffee 

Clarke 

Conecuh. . 
Covington 
Dale 



Dallas 

DeKalb 

Fayette 

Franklin 

Greene , 

Henry 

Jackson 

Jefferson 

Lowndes .... 

Macon 

Madison. . . . 
Marengo. . . . 

Marshall 

Mobile 

Monroe 

Montgomery. 

Perry 

Pickens 

Randolph.. . . 

Russell. 

Shelby 

St. Clair.... 

Sumter 

Tallapoosa... 
Tuskaloosa.. 

Walker 

Washington. 

Wilcox 

Baine 

Clav 

Colbert 

Hale 

Lee . 



Total 

Due for 1866. 



Amount 
Drawn. 



8,646 48 



5,601 23 
4,724 00 
4,983 45 



3,507 05 



6,3% 19 



11,577 67 



522 75 



2,940 00 
"2J588 '74 



5,297 15 



Apporiion- 
m'ntof 1867. 



6,640 

4,877 

13,791 



3,435 45 
2,520 83 
4,500 00 



4,254 00 



1,560 18 



$74,990 19 
23,365 10 



$51,625 0! 



$23,365 10 
Duefori867 



7,212 
4,354 
4,198 
4,306 
5,810 
3,384 
3,912 
3,473 
3,482 
2,170 
6,250 
6,912 
3,116 
3,165 
3,418 
3,788 
5,001 
7,549 
5,073 
4,060 
3,773 
8,697 



82 
20 
61 

57 
40 
07 
on 
08 
17 
00 
80 
07 
80 
62 
■Hi 
7-1 
55 
56 
60 
41 

91 

53 



Amount 
Drawn. 



3,679 41 
1,721 57 



2,700 00 



2,250 80 

2,211 95 

673 68 



1,100 00 



1,419 88 
327 91 



6,697 53 



4,477 80 

13,538 00 

3,085 86 

9,506 0. 

6,479 35 

6,7ij5 04 

4,852 80 

4,617 51 

5,128 56 

3,366 00 



8,346 
6,305 
3,596 
50-* 
3,902 
3,262 
3,790 
3,039 
3,360 
5,653 



$205,662 90 
48,611 61 

$157,054 39 



5,000 00 
1,500 00 
9,393 57 



198 37 

320 00 

1,555 33 



3,305 24 
338 07 



1,000 00 
2,368 00 
1,050 30 



$48,611 61 



Amount apportioned for 1866. 
Amount drawn 



Balance due . 



Amount apportioned for 1867. 
Amount drawn 



$418,849 07 
362,223 60 

.$ 51,625 09 

.1290,250 12 
. 133,195 83 



Balance due $157,054 29 



9 

The General Assembly, in February, 1869, passed an act 
appropriating the sum of 208,679 38-100 dollars to cover 
the several amounts due and unpaid to those counties 
whose school moneys had been used by Gov. Patton to 
meet other pressing debts of the State. 

This sum of 208,679 38-100 dollars so appropriated 
was apportioned among the counties by the late superin- 
tendent, according to the amounts certified to be due to 
the respective counties in the above statement. 

In what manner this money has been disbursed by the 
County Superintendents the present State Superintendent 
is not fully informed, as but few final settlements have yet 
been made with this department by the several County Su- 
perintendents who received the special appropriations for 
1866, 1867, and 1868. 

It will be observed that the act making the appropria- 
tion fixes a proviso to it, a proviso which is doubtful, because 
the fund was justly due to those teachers alone who were 
employed under the then existing school laws. The pro- 
viso reads thus : " That the provisions of the foregoing 
act shall be so construed as to include all teachers who 
have taught a free public school and have claims against 
the State, without distinction on account of race or color." 

The purpose of this proviso must be transparent. There 
were no colored teachers of State schools before July, 
1868, and no colored pupils, except such as were recog- 
nized by the military commander between January and 
July, 1S68 ; yet, as will presently be seen, an opportunity 
has been given for the misappropriation of this entire fund. 

THE SCHOLASTIC YEAK 1868. 

The House of Representatives, on the 14th day of De- 
cember, last, adopted and transmitted to this department 
the following resolution : 

Be it resolved by the House, That the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction be and he is hereby required to trans- 
mit to this body, the amount of claims on tile in his office, 
of teachers who taught schools in the year 1868, up to the 
15th July, and which remain unpaid, and to state what 



10 

percentage has been paid on such claims by his predeces- 
sor. Also, to state the amount of the school fund for the 
year 18G8, and to indicate what proportion of such amount 
should equitably have been applied to the payment of the 
claims originating during the part of the year 18G8 ante- 
rior to the 16th of July, and such other information as is 
in his possession relative to the subject. 

The operations of this department were interrupted in 
December, 1867, by the impending political revolution in 
the State government. In January following, the Con- 
gress of the United States took possession of the State, 
under the reconstruction acts, and decreed for us a consti- 
tution, which went into operation with a new State govern- 
ment, in July following. The next school year was made 
by the Board of Education, under the new constitution, to 
begin October I, 1868. 

Had the old State government remained in existence, 
the interest of the trust funds due December 1, 1868, and 
the various appropriations certified by the Auditor at that 
date to be due to this department, would have' been paid 
out to cover the operations of the past year. But, fortu- 
nately for the public schools, the interregnum from Decem- 
ber i, 1867, to October 1, 1868, resulted in the schools 
catching up with the fund. On December 1, 1868, the 
Auditor certified was due to this department the sum of 
$524,621 68. This amount, instead of being apportioned 
to cover the back year, was apportioned to the counties 
for the year beginning October 1, 1868. Hence, it result- 
ed that, as the school fund due December 1, 1867, was paid 
out to cover the year closing on that day, and the school 
fund due December 1, 1868, was apportioned to cover the 
year beginning October 1, 1868, there was no fund to meet 
the claims arising from December 1, 1857, to October 1, 
1868. 

It is well for this department, and for the interest here- 
after of the teachers of public schools, that this interreg- 
num occurred, and that the fund can be apportioned at the 
opening of the scholastic year hereafter, rather than at 



11 

the close. In the one case, teachers will know what to 
expect. In the other, they were compelled to wait for their 
money until the close of the year, and be subjected to fre- 
quent disappointments. 

If the informality by which this state of things has oc- 
curred demands legislative action, it is to be hoped that the 
present order of distribution may not be disturbed. 

At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the 
claims of teachers which arose between December 1, 1867, 
and October 1, 1868, are a just debt of the State. The 
General Assembly saw proper in October, 1868, to pass an 
act (explained by an act of February, 1870,) appropriating 
to the claims of teachers arising between Dec. 1, 1867, and 
June 30, 1868, the sum of $15,411 46, which it was doubt- 
less believed, at the time the bill was introduced, would 
cover all just and legal claims embraced within that period. 

It is not known to the present Superintendent upon what 
was predicated this sum of $15,4L1 46. Nor is it known 
what claims, or to what amount, are held against the De- 
partment by teachers legally employed during the year 
1868, either before or after July 15, 1868. Nor is it known 
what per centage has been paid upon any claims held by 
teachers for that year. The Superintendent can only say, 
that under his predecessor the above-mentioned sum of 
$45,41 1 46 was distributed to the several County Superin- 
tendents without reference to the amount of unpaid claims 
held in any given county, but in proportion to an enumera- 
tion of white and colored children made in 1869. It is 
with reluctance that he has been driven to the conclu- 
sion that the acquisition and distribution of this sum of 
$45,111 46, and the larger sum appropriated for the years 
1866 and 1867, is the result of a deliberate scheme to di- 
vert the public school fund of the years 1866, 1867, and 
1868, from their legitimate use, and for the benefit of pri- 
vate schools which were established and conducted for pri- 
vate gain or for the promotion of political and sectarian 



12 

ends. This conclusion is reached from an examination of 
the following facts. 

Among the first acts passed by tho Board of Education 
at their first session, a few days after the inauguration of 
the present constitution, was the following : 

"An Act to provide for tho payment of outstanding claims 
for the maintenance of schools. 

" Be it enacted by the Board of Education of the State of 
Alabama, That any moneys now in the hands of any offi- 
cer, State or county, or municipal, raised by taxation or 
otherwise for the support of schools, prior to July 1st, 1868, 
shall be used for the payment of any unsettled claims for 
services rendered prior to the 2oth day of July, 1868, 
by any association, society or teacher, for the maintenance 
of shools without regard to race or condition, upon the 
warrant of the county superintendent, accompanied with 
his certificate that the same are correct and justly clue. 

"Approved August 11, 1868." 

It is not possible that before the inauguration of the 
present constitution there were any colored public schools, 
or colored public school teachers, the colored people not 
being embraced in the school system. The intent of this 
act was evidently to give a color of authority to the newly 
appointed County Superintendents for the disbursement of 
public moneys to private schools of a certain character. 
Under cover of this act large sums of money which had 
been turned over by Township Trustees to the new County 
Superintendents, as also the several appropriations referred 
to, were squandered upon teachers of private schools who 
were in nowise connected with the public school system, 
and who had already received pay from their patrons for 
their services. The Couuty Superintendent of Montgom- 
ery county, who has lately been removed from office, paid 
himself the sum of $ 1,692 60 for teaching a private col- 
ored school, and his account was allowed by the State Su- 
perintendent. The State Superintendent, in conjunction 
with the County Superintendent of Mobile county, who has 



13 

also been removed, paid to a colored institute, which was 
supported and controlled by a missionary society, and whose 
teachers had already been paid by that society, the sum of 
$5,327 at one time, and $5,425 at another time. 

It was the practice of the late State Superintendent to 
allow such claims under color of the act above cited, and 
when the sum of $45,411 46 was definitely appropriated 
by the General Assembly to be "applied to the payment of 
teachers who rendered service in the public schools of the 
State" for what is known as the schclastic year 1868, he 
apportioned it among the counties upon the basis of the 
enumeration of white and colored children made in 1869, 
and without any reference to the amount or locality of le- 
gal claims held by teachers who " rendered service in the 
public schools of the State." The following table exhibits 
the apportionment of this special fund, as made by the 
Superintendent in 1869, the several amounts which have 
been paid out to the counties, and the amount of vouchers 
returned to this office by the County Superintendents: 



14 



ement of the Appropriation for 1S*>8, its Apportionment among the 
< mties, date of payment to the County Superintendent*, and amount ac- 
counted for by vouchers. 



Counties. 



2S 
z 

a 

— 



Autauga .... 
Baker 

Baldwin 

Barbour 

Bibb 

Blount 

Bullock 

Butler 

Calhoun 

Chambers.. . 
Cherokee. ... 
Choctaw. . . . 

Clarke 

Clay 

Cleburne.. . . 

Coffee 

Conecuh.. . . 

Coosa 

Covington... 
Crenshaw . . . 

Dale 

Dallas 

DeKalb 

Elmore 

Escambia. . . 

Etowah 

Fayette 

Franklin 

Geneva 

Greene 

Hale 

Henry 

Jackson 

Jefferson.. . . 
Lauderdale . 
Lawrence. . . 

Lee 

Limestone. . 
Lowndes 

Macon 

Madison . . . 
Marengo... . 

Marion 

Marshall 

Mobile 

Monroe 

Montgomery 



$4,361 

3,011 
2,269 

■ 
3,231 
L193 
8,954 
5,761 
5, 1 53| 
5,945! 
5.196 
4.-34'.) 
■ 2.612 
3.91b 
3,448 
3,049 
3,190 
5,41 

5. 658 
6,007 

10.963 
2,736 
5.227 
1,461 
3,437 
3,164 
7,691 
1,090 
5,233 
4,327 
5.919 
7,635 
5,490 
5,981 
5,817 
7,27i. 
4,668 
8,464 
5,885 
9,935 
8,188 
3,077 
4,392 

18,877 
3,498 

14,06c 



~l 



i — 

— - 



- — 
p 

y. ~ 

•§ 4 



'- .". i 5 
376 
283 

1.247 
403 
624 

1,119 
720 
644 
743 
649 

326 
489 
431 
381 
398 
677 
•2-4 
707 
750 

1,370 
342 
653 
182 
429 
395 
961 
136 
634 
540 
739 
951 
686 
747 
727 
90S 
583 

1,058 

1.241 

1,061 

-• 

549 
2,331) 

4: 57 
1,758 



12 
37 

- 

01 

-: 

•_- 

6-2 

1: 

12 

54 

62 

51 

7" 

fii 

12 

75 

12 

12 

25 



June 16, 1-7". 
Oct 26, 187 
May 19. 1870. 

" 21. 1870. 

" in. 1870. 
Nov. 1, 1ST '. 
May 20, 1870. 
■June 28, 1870. 
May 19, 1870. 

" 10, 1870. 

" 20, 1870. 



May 16, 187 
Inly 19, 1870. 
June 9. 1870. 
" 2, 1870. 
" 1. 1870. 
May 23, 1870. 
June 24. 1870. 
9,187 
37 May 13, 187 



0- 

37 

62 

62 

50 

37 

■J." 

12 

-' 

12 

37 

25 

62 

1- 

75 

51 

: 

62 

-: 

oo 

62 
01 
62 
25 



Dec. 13, 1870. 
May 14. 1-7"'. 
18, 1370. 



Oct. 24, 1870. 



June 29, 1870. 



June 11, 1870. 



Jan. 21, 1870. 



June 14, 1870. 

" 6,1870. 
Aug. 5, 1-70. 
May 23, 1-7". 
2, 1-7". 
June 1. 1870. 
Aug. 6, 1870. 
Sep. 10, 1870. 
May 13. 1870. 

" 25, 1-7(1. 

" 21, 1-7". 
July 13, 187 
Sep. 19, 1870. 



> 
_ a 
- -. 
■-- z 

c 1 



376 16 



497 34 



624 12 

362 25 
720 25 



654 74 



301 65 



•2;- "- 



180 00 



540 87 
'954*37 



624 80 
460 "22 



295 87 



15 



statement of the appkopriations FOE 1868, &c — continued. 



Counties. 



p 
Q 

H 

a 



►a B 
2. ° 
s° S 
ST B 

Pj p 

d 
o 



V! a) 

o 

a p 
f s 



«< o 

1 1 

71 O 



Morgan . 

Perry 

Pickens 

Pike 

Randolph. . . 

Russell 

Sanford 

Shelby 

St. Clair.... 

Sumter 

Talladega. . . 
Tallapoosa. . 
Tuskaloosa.. 

Walker 

Washington. 

Wilcox 

Winston 



4,295 
9,230 

7,092 
6,881 
4,878 
7,084 
4,686 
4,528 
3,722 
5,878 
6,147 
8,224 
7,569 
3,570 
1,163 
8,540 
1,727 



Total. 



358,180 



536 
1,153 

886 
860 
609 
885 
585 
566 
4fi5 
734 
768 

1,028 
946 
446 
145 

1,067 
215 



87 
75 
50 
12 

75 
50 
7.-, 
on 
25 
75 
37 
00 
12 
25 
37 
50 
.-7 



Aug. 16, 1870. 
June 16, 1870. 
Nov. 4, 1870. 
May 23, 1870. 
Aug. 9, 1870. 
June 24, 1870. 
4i 9, 1870. 
Oct. 5, 1870. 



$44,772 50 



Dec. 14, 1870. 
June 8, 1870. 
" 29, 1870. 
Aug. 22, 1870. 



266 25 



403 75 

1,028 00 

480 30 



May 24, 1870. 
Nov. 1, 1870. 



Total amount appropriated by General Assembly. 
" apportioned to counties 



$9,019 02 

$45,411 46 
44,772 50 



Appropriation not apportioned 

Amount of claims paid by County Superintendents. 



$638 96 
$9,019 62 



This is all the information in the possession of this De- 
partment relative to the application made of the fund 
voted for the relief of public school teachers, who ren- 
dered services from December, 1867, to July, 1868. 

The present Superintendent has called upon the County 
Superintendents to report the disbursements of this fund 
and to forward their vouchers ; but, thus far, very few have 
reported ; and those who have found no claimants for the 
money in their hands, propose to retain charge of it and 
disburse it for unpaid claims of the years 1869 and 1870, 
under a law enacted for that purpose at the late session of 
the Board of Education. It is probable that the great bulk 
of that fund has not been and will not be applied to the 



16 

object for which the general assembly appropriated it. 
Such is one of the evil results of having two legislatures 
over this department. The disbursing legislature runs 
counter to the spirit of the appropriating legislature, and 
the State Superintendent remains powerless to provide a 
remedy for transparent abuses. 

THE SCHOLASTIC YEAE, 1869. 

The scholastic year, 1869, opened October 1st, 1868, and 
closed September 30th, 1869. For this year the State 
auditor certified as due this department the sum of 
$524,621 68, derived from the following sources, viz : 
Appropriation, as per act approved October 

10, 1868 * $200,000 00 

Annual interest on $1,710,157 45, at 8 per cent. 

(16th section) 136,812 59 

Annual interest on $97,091 45, at 8 per cent. 

(valueless 16th section) 7,767 30 

Annual interest on $669,086 80, at 8 per cent. 

surplus revenue , 53,526 94 

Amount received from retail licenses 26,514 85 

Appropriation as per section 957, Revised 

Code 100,000 00 

Total . $524,621 68 

This sum, after setting aside $12,000 for normal schools, 
was apportioned among the counties upon the basis of the 
enumeration of children, as follows : 



17 



Counties. 



Autauga .... 

Baker 

Baldwin 

Barbour. ..•. 

Kibb 

Blount , 

Bullock 

Butler 

Calhoun 

Chambers . . . 

Cherokee , 

Choctaw 

Clarke 

Clay 

Cleburne 

Coffee 

Conecuh 

Coosa 

Covington. . . 
Crenshaw . . . 

Dale 

Dallas 

DeKalb 

Elmore 

Escambia 

Etowah 

Fayette 

Franklin 

Geneva 

Greene 

Hale 

Henry 

Jackson 

Jefferson . . . 
Lauderdale.. . 
Lawrence .... 

Lee 

Limestone. . . 

Lowndes 

Macon 

Madison 

Marengo. . . . 

Marion 

Marshall 

Mobile 

Monroe 

Montgomery. 

Morgan 

Perry 

Pickens 

Pike 

Kandolph. .. . 

Russell 

Sanford 

Shelby 

St. Clair 

Sumter 

Talladega 

Tuskaloosa... 
Tallapoosa . . . 

Walker 

Washington. . 

Wileox 

Winston 

2 




Amount of 
apportion- 
ment. 



4,361 
3,011 
2,269 
9,976 
3,281 
4,193 


$ 6.333 70 
4,699 90 
3,754 96 
13,169 92 
4,577 20 
5,426 60 


8,954 
5,765 


11,714 32 
7,480 50 


5,153 
5,945 


6,945 97 
7,734 00 


5,196 


6,835 20 


4,549 


6,438 63 


2,612 


4,634 97 


3,918 


5,301 60 


3,448 


4,737 00 


3,049 


4,308 80 


3,19n 


4,605 60 


5,417 


7,500 40 


2,273 


3,171 56 


5,658 


7,522 93 


6,007 


7,883 40 


10,963 


W.^S 47 


2,736 


3,614 98 


5,227 


7,578 80 


1,461 


2,361 89 


3,437 


4,724 40 


3,164 


4,324 02 


7,691 


10.687 99 


1,090 


1,737 17 


5,233 


9,168 84 


4,327 


6,429 49 


5,913 


7,768 07 


7,635 


10,459 89 


5,490 


7,088 00 


5,981 


7,877 20 


5,817 


9,171 71 


7,270 


9,524 00 


4,668 


7,822 95 


8,468 


11,339 24 


5,885 


8,444 56 


9,935 


15,036 77 


8,488 


13,489 06 


3,077 


4.192 40 


4,393 


5.880 40 


18,877 


24,652 40 


3,498 


5,580 30 


14,068 


19,396 86 


4,295 


5,996 40 


9,230 


13,046 13 


7,092 


10,637 37 


6,881 


9,259 20 


4,878 


6,453 60 


7,084 


10,166 59 


4,686 


6,023 20 


4,528 


6,233 60 


3,722 


5,066 40 


5,878 


12,409 17 


6,147 


8,575 24 


8,224 


10,468 80 


7,569 


K',312 17 


3,570 


4,684 00 


1,163 


1,895 60 


8,540 


11,947 27 


1,727 


2,622 40 



18 

The pay of local officers, chargeable upon the County 
School Fund, was 

For County Superintendents $52,624 00 

For Clerks of Boards of Trustees 22,549 92 

Total $75,173 92 

It appears that there were taught 

Public schools in 1869, (estimated) 3,225 

Children attending public schools, (estimated) 160,000 

A tabular statement showing the number of schools 
taught in each county in the State during the scholastic 
year, the number of teachers employed, and the salaries 
paid them, may be found in a special report made from 
this Department to the House of Representatives, and 
bearing date February 10, 1870, to which I would call your 
Excellency's attention. 

The following exhibit shows the names of County Su- 
perintendents, their salaries, and the amounts paid them 
for the scholastic year 1869. 



19 



Q 


CO 


CO 


H 


H 


!zS 


O 

B 
B 

t 


c 

V 
CD 

B 
rt- 
CD 

B 

P-. 

CD 


C-. CD 
P "* 
H K" 
Vj B_ 

• CD 

: p 
: & 

: b 


r$ 
CO 
rt- 
CD 
CD 
°« 
CO 

EL 
<-> 


o 

e-t- 
& 

P 

B. 

Oi 
>S 

P 

a 


p 
o 

CO 

o 
B* 

o 
o 

¥— * 

CO 


; 


<n- 




vj 




Autauga 


J. H. Booth 


$1,000 00 


$174 00 


$6,333 00 


48 






800 00 
1,000 00 


244 00 
249 00 


4,793 50 
3,706 16 


36 


Baldwin 


Dr. S. Moore 


14 


Barbour 


B. B. Fields 


700 00 


599 47 


10,699 36 


bl 


Bibb 


R. R. McPherson. 


700 00 


195 00 


4,577 20 


44 




1. W. White 


395 00 


378 70 


5,419 53 


51 


Bullock 


0. J. Cunningham 


900 00 


280 00 


10,295 75 


50 


Butler 


Wm . Sea well 


562 50 


259 70 


7,145 90 


60 




J. B. Williams 


600 00 
600 00 


249 50 

485 50 


6,910 22 

7,285 88 


62 


Chambers .... 


B. L. Dyer 


50 




L. J Sanford 


600 00 


308 00 


6,617 61 


68 


Choctaw 


W. J. Gilmore 


800*00 


347 65 


6,428 63 


61 




W. W. Wilson 


800 00 


172 00 


5,351 58 


23 


Clay 


A. A. West 


600 00 


352 00 


5,240 69 


37 


Cleburne 


J. M. Wiggins 


600 00 


283 00 


4,735 70 


37 


Coffee 


M. Miller 


650 0i 


251 00 


4,308 78 


37 




Wm. P. Miller.. . 


600 00 


183 00 


4,605 60 


48 


Coosa 


J. W. McLendon. . 


1,000 00 


531 50 


7,194 90 


49 


Covington . . . 


J. McLoughlin 


437 50 


48 00 


2,981 55 


35 


Crenshaw 


J. H. Howard 


733 33 


433 00 


7,522 93 


32 


Dale 


G. M. T. Gibson.. 
Jos. H. Sears 


675 00 
2,000 00 


816 60 
905 58 


7,883 40 
16,775 98 


48 




88 


DeKalb 


T. B. Collins 


300 00 


114 00 


2,387 94 


34 


Elmore 


J. A. McCutchen.. 


600 00 


522 50 


7,578 80 


64 


Escambia 


A. G. Martin 


600 00 


134 75 


2,342 65 


16 




J.J. Brasher..... 


600 00 
500 00 


224 00 
222 00 


4,724 40 
3,982 24 


44 




J Middleton 


50 


Franklin 


Dr. F. Anderson.. 


1,400 00 


454 00 


10,687 99 


73 


Geneva 


Dr. E. R.Porter... 


421 87 


1J4 00 


1,940 22 


19 


Greene 


A. A. Smith 


1,500 00 
500 00 
600 00 


156 00 
335 00 
322 01 


7,987 66 
6,033 89 
7,009 15 


40 


Hale 


M. H. Yerby 

Geo. P. Kincey. . . 


40 


Henry 


60 




Jesse W. Isbeil. . . 


800 00 


839 83 


10,444 00 


53 






500 00 


394 40 


7,126 34 


58 


Lauderdale . . . 


Wm. R. Chisholm. 


700 0( 


498 0( 


7,776 00 


50 




Jno. H. Preston... 


900 00 


603 66 


9,205 21 


66 


Lee 


J. E. Summerford. 
J. B. Lentz 


800 00 
540 0( 


384 01 
511 1( 


9,465 11 
7,850 04 


52 


Limestone . . . 


42 


Lowndes 


G. W. Neeley 


1,500 0(1 


388 50 


11,746 2C 


59 


Macon 


J. S. Caldwell 


1,000 OC 


342 00 


8,lb2 86 


43 


Madison 


A. W. McCullough 


1,500 01 


498 0C 


14,630 09 


88 


Marengo 


Geo. E. Pegram . . . 


1,500 01 


164 0C 


12,063 77 59 




T. B. Nesmith.... 


500 01 


269 0C 


4,192 4C 


52 


Marshall 


F. M. Proctor 


610 0C 


370 0C 


6,078 5C 


43 


Mobile 


Geo. L. Putnam. . . 


2,000 0C 


455 54 


24.652 4C 


40 


Monroe 


Dr. J. W. Cotter. . 


622 5C 


262 U 


I 5,580 3( 


) 48 


Montgomery . . 


Wm. M. Loftin... 


2,000 0C 


1 363 01 


19,3b8 3f 


) 85 


Morgan 


C.C. Nesmith 


600 0C 


395 Vc 


6,141 3J 


l 72 


Perry 


C. C. Crowe 


J, 125 0( 


1 375 0( 


1 13,044 4c 


5 62 



20 



o 

o 

P 
P 



Pickens 

Pike 

Randolph .. 

Russell 

Sanford 

Shelby 

St. Clair.... 

Sumter 

Talladega. .. 
Tallapoosa.. 
Tuscaloosa . 

Walker 

Washington 

Wilcox 

Winston 



CO 
P 

CD 



cd 

P 
Pi 
cd 
P 



E. F. Bonchelle. . 
L. G. McLendon. 

C. 0. Enloe 

T. T. Edmunds.. 

G. C. Bums 

J. W. Jones 

Win. P. Lovett... 

R. Bradshaw 

J. G. Cbaudron. . 
J. H. Lowrey 
H. S. Whitfield... 

J.L Gilder 

T. J. King 

C. C. Colton 

W. H. Shipman. . 



CO 


H 


00 y£ 

t— » CD 


a 

05 


p= ►-* 






<n 


• CD 


CD 


• P 


IS 


. Pi 
CD 


S» 


. P 


N 


. c+- 


<<j 


03 




1,000 00 


462 00 


1,(1(10 00 


587 00 


600 00 


367 00 


920 00 


244 00 


400 00 


358 00 


800 00 


286 00 


600 00 


228 00 


1,500 00 


397 (id 


1,000 00 


255 00 


600 00 


404 00 


800 00 


362 00 


400 00 


222 00 


500 00 


76 00 


1,270 00 


447 50 


550 00 


426 80 



o 



9 



9 

A 
P 

10,633 
9,063 
6,542 

8,595 
6,023 
6,192 
5,004 

11,171 
8,575 

10,451 

10,312 
4,670 
1,972 

11,545 
2,622 



61 

■H 

(17 

81 

20 

40 

95 

57 

24 

20 

17 

21 

33 

•J 7 

40 



5z{ 
o 



oo 
a 
P" 
O 
o 



54 
69 
48 
40 
39 
62 
37 
51 
68 
63 
93 
42 
12 
70 
29 



The sum of $12,000 was apportioned for the Normal 
Classes. There are reported of these, three at Huntsville, 
one at Portersville, two at Talladega, one at Montgomery, 
one at Evergreen, and one at Mobile — making in all nine 
classes with an aggregate of three hundred male and fe- 
male pupils, who were under contract with the State to 
teach for two years in the free public schools after having 
obtained from the teacher of the class a certificate of com- 
petency to teach. It is not known by the Superintendent 
what progress had been made by these pupils, what inter- 
est they exhibited in learning, what assurance the Depart- 
ment had as to their capacity, intellectually and morally, 
or whether any of them were prepared during the year 
1869, or the year 1870, to assume the duties of teacher, or 
whether any of them actually entered upon such duties. 
The subsequent abandonment of the schools, it is fair to 
presume, has resulted in a loss to this Department of 
$12,000 for the year 1869 and $2-j,000 for the year 1870. 

It was an unwise policy to have established such a num- 
ber of Normal Schools at the outset. The State of New 



21 

York for a quarter of a century had but four Normal 
Schools, and last year had but six. 

THE SCHOLASTIC YEAR 1870. 

The scholastic year 1870 opened on the 1st day of Jan- 
uary, 1870, and closed the 3 1st day of December, 1870, by 
act of the Board of Education approved September Gth, 
1869. It appears that there was an interregnum between 
the close of the former scholastic year on September 30th, 
1869, and the beginning of the new year, January 1, 1870, 
but this interregnum did not interfere with the continuance 
of the schools, nor with the regular apportionment of the 
school funds, the Auditor having certified on the first day 
of December as usual the amount due the public schools 
for the current year, and an act of the Board having pro- 
vided that the schools might be opened earlier than the 1st 
of January, 1870, and be credited upon the school fund 
of 1870. 

The amount certified by the Auditor as due this Depart- 
ment on December 1st, 1869, and appropriated by the 
State Superintendent for the scholastic year 1870, is as 
follows : 
Annual interest on $1,710,347 70, sixteenth 

section fund $136,921 74 

Annual interest on $97,091 21, valueless six- 
teenth section fund 7,767 30 

Annual interest on $669,086 80, surplus reve- 
nue 53,526 94 

One-fifth annual aggregate revenue 137,^90 20 

Section 957, Eevised Code 100,000 00 

Special tax, act December, 1869 60,903 00 

Alabama Mutual Aid Association 4,000 00 

Total $500,409 18 

On the 23d of February, 1870, the Auditor certified to 
this Department that " under the provisions of an act ap- 
proved December 29, 1868, the net proceeds of lands sold in 



22 

Nebraska, amounting to $18,432, have this day been certified 
and paid into the treasury to the credit of the following 
townships in Alabama :" 
Township 5, range 2 east $3,924 

5, " 3 " 1,170 

6, " 1 " 3,204 

6, " 2 " 4,896 

6, " 3 " 5,238 

Total $18,432 

This fund did not become available, however, during the 
scholastic year 1870. It will be seen that interest is calcu- 
lated upon it at the opening of the next scholastic year. 

The $500,409 18 certified as due December 1, 18o9, was 
apportioned as follows : 

Number of children 387,057 

White 229,139 

Colored 157,918 

Appropriation among counties $464,496 68 

Classification of appropriation — 

For white fund 269,569 24 

For colored fund 191,927 44 

County appropriations $464,496 68 

For city of Selma 1,696 25 

For normal schools 25,000 00 

Balance unappropriated 9,216 25 

$500,409 18 

These figures are taken from the apportionment sheets 
certified to the Auditor from this Department. The dupli- 
cate sheets retained in this Department, which are the only 
record of the matter to be found, have been tampered with 
and do not correspond with the statement made to the 
Auditor. Hence, it is with the greatest difficulty that the 
present Superintendent can certify that a county is entitled 
to any certain amount for the year 1870, or that any certain 
sum has actually been paid to the townships. Indeed, such 



23 

is the condition of the records for the years 1869 and 1870 
that the Superintendent would ask the General Assembly 
to appoint a committee to examine into the affairs of the 
Department of Education and to make such recommenda- 
tions as they may think best for its interests. 

A supplemental report will be made hereafter, exhibit- 
ing the operations of the public schools in each county for 
the scholastic year 1870, as certified to by the County Su- 
perintendents for their several counties. From the recapit- 
ulation of the reports from County Superintendents thus 
far received, appear the following results : 

Number of counties 65 

Largest number of free schools taught during 
the year — 

White 1,«S55 

Colored 490 

Total 1,845 

Amount of school fund apportioned for coun- 
ties $461,496 08 

Amount drawn by Superintendents to January 

20, 1871 364,670 81 

Due counties January 20, 1871 $99,825 27 

There seems to be no reason why such a large sum of 
money should remain undrawn at so late a day as three 
weeks after the close of the school year when teachers have 
been clamorous for their pay for months. The only expla- 
nation that can be assigned for such neglect is that num- 
bers of incompetent men were appointed as County Super- 
intendents in 1868, and that they have been either ignorant, 
dilatory, or unmindful of their plain duties. 

THE SCHOOL YEAR 1871. 

The Board of Education at its late session wisely changed 
the school year so as to make it correspond with the fiscal 
year — to open October 1 and close September 30. But as 



24 

the last scholastic year closed December 31, 1870, the 
present year will cover only nine months, and extend from 
January 1, 1871, to October 1, 1871. The next year will 
begin October 1, 1871, and close September 30, 1872, and 
hereafter the scholastic and fiscal years 'will agree. By 
this arrangement the books of the Auditing and of the 
Education Departments can be more easily compared and 
all errors or irregularities instantly detected and remedied 
Reports can, also, be made more conveniently from this 
Department, and the operations of an entire year may be 
laid before the General Assembly when it convenes in No- 
vember. 

Although by the change in the scholastic year the school 
fund for the current year loses two months' interest on the 
the trust funds, it appears that the amount certified by the 
Auditor as due this Department to the 1st day of October 
1870, is as follows : 

Ten months' interest on $1,729,032 74, sixteenth 

section fund $115,268 85 

Ten months' interest on $97,091 21, valueless 

sixteenth section fund 6,472 75 

Ten months' interest on $669,086 80, surplus 

revenue fund 44,605 78 

One-fifth annual aggregate revenue 232,462 25 

Poll tax 82,579 66 

From section 957, Revised Code 100,000 00 

ITnapportioned balance from last year 9,216 25 

Total $590,605 54 

From this statement it will be seen that the school fund 
has swelled from $500,409 18 in January, 1870, to 
$590,605 54 in January, 1871, an increase of $90,196 36. 
This increase is due to the increasedrevenue of the State and 
the better collection of the poll tax. Next year, if the rate 
of taxation is not decreased, and a better plan is adopted 
for collection of the poll tax, we may expect to see the 
school fund reach $700,000. 



25 

The fund for 1871, after deducting estimated expenses for 
County Superintendents, Boards of Directors and the 
clerkship allowed this office by the Board of Education 
will give the sum of $1 33 1 per child, the number of chil- 
dren reported being about 396,000. 

Kate per child for 1869 $1 20 

1870 1 15 

1871 1 33£ 

A statement of the apportionment for 1871 is now being 
made out and in a few days will be sent to each County 
Superintendent. After the election for school officers in 
March the statement will again be sent to County Superin- 
tendents, and, also, to the Township Trustees, so that each 
township may be certain to know how much money to ex- 
pect and may not employ more teachers or for a longer 
time than it can pay. 

SUCCESS OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE PAST. 

Your Excellency desires the Superintendent to state 
what information he has as to the success of the public 
school system of Alabama in the past and its prospects in 
the future. The pressing duties which are devolved upon 
him at the outset of his administration, and the propriety 
of submitting this report for the consideration of the Gene- 
ral Assembly at the earliest moment, prevent his entering 
upon a full criticism of our school system, or a disquisition 
upon the necessities of public instruction. 

Our public school system had barely time to gain the 
good will of the people and begin to reap the fruits hoped 
for by its founders, among whom your Excellency was con- 
spicuous, before the outbreak of the war impeded and 
thwarted its operations. You can gain a just idea, however, 
of the success which was attending public instruction in 
Alabama down to 1861 from reference to the final reports 
of those accomplished gentlemen and noble heroes, (peace 
to the memory of the one, and additional honors to the 



26 

brow of the other,) General Wm. F. Perky and Captain 
Gabriel B. Duval. 

Although the sixteenth section fund had been paid regu- 
larly to Township Trustees for a number of years before, it 
may be said that the public school system of Alabama was 
first established by an act of the General Assembly of Feb- 
ruary 15, 1854. For the year 1855 the apportionment of 
the school fund was as follows : 

Principal. Interest. 

Sixteenth section fund on de- 
posit in the State treasury 

on the 1st December, 1854. $1,244,793 36 $74,687 60 
Valuelesss sixteenth section 

fund 97,091 21 7,767 SO 

United States deposit fund. . 669,086 80 53,526 94 

Direct appropriation 100,000 00 

Special taxes 1,300 00 

Escheated property 233 55 

$237,515 39 
Less amount appropriated as contingent fund 

of this Department 5,000 00 

$232,515 39 

The number of children enumerated for that year was 
145,518. 

The report of operations for that year is quite imperfect. 
It was the beginning of a system, and the new county offi- 
cers were not yet familiar with their duties. 

For the year 1856 we find the school fund increased as 
follows : 

Interest on sixteenth section fund $90,023 49 

" valueless fund.... 7,767 30 

" on surplus revenue 53,526 94 

Income from retail licenses ... 16,372 68 

Appropriation from treasury 100,000 00 

Total $267,690 41 



27 

The number of children enumerated for that year was 
171,073. 

The whole number of public schools taught during the 
year (excluding those of Mobile county, which had a sepa- 
rate system of its own, and those of Lawrence, from which 
no report was received,) was 2,260. The number of pupils 
registered was 89,013. The average length of time during 
which the schools were taught was a small fraction over six 
months. 

There were embraced in the reports 197 private schools, 
having 3,774 pupils ; 74 academies, with 3,955 pupils ; 20 
colleges, with 1,690 students. A majority of the institutions 
returned under the last head were unendowed female semi- 
naries. • 

If to the aggregate number of pupils in the public schools 
as stated above, 89,013, be added those of Mobile county as 
shown by the abstract of the Superintendent's report to the 
Board of School Commissioners, 1,847, and the number at- 
tending private schools, academies and colleges, 9,419, 
there results a total (exclusive of the private schools of 
Mobile county and all the schools of Lawrence) of 100,279. 

These figures show an increase over any former year of 
37,501 — equal to more than one-half the votes ever polled 
in any election held to that date in the State. If a mode- 
rate allowance be made for the numbers in the two counties 
excluded, it appears that one to every four and one-third 
of the total white population, as shown by the State census 
of 1855, attended school during the year 1856. This was a 
larger ratio than is exhibited by the school statistics of 
twenty-five out of the then thirty-one States of the Union. 
In 1857, three years after the inauguration of our com- 
mon school system, we find that Alabama stands proudly 
among her sister States of the Union. The following table 
is taken from Appletons' Cyclopedia (Vol. V., title, Common 
Schools) : 



28 



State. 



Alabama 

Connecticut . . . 

Virginia 

Georgia 

Mississippi .... 

Maryland 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Iowa 

Louisiana 

California 

Massachusetts . 

New York 

Pennsjdvania . . 
Indiana 



o 

^3 


s-i 


00 H 5 

ft ft - 


C 


«- o 


pp^ 


P 

r-f- 

o 

P 


B ft 

Eta 

B O 
U5 


of an 
t exp 
ools . . 






O 

CO i-u 


• 2 s 






B* ft 








2 f 
2-SL 


• 00 

ft 






• 2 


: o 513 




• 00 


• -i i' 


i 841,704 


89,160 


$490,690 


j A negroes. 






370,792 


71,269 


322,253 


1,4-21,661 


41,608 


156,000 


935,000 


77,015 




606,526 


18,746 


36,000 


583,034 


33,111 




317,976 


85,245 


263,625 


314,120 


90,110 


265,623 


509,414 


79,679 


198, 143 


567,774 


36,000 


200,000 


507,067 


9,717 


156,712 


1,133,123 


203,031 


1,418,364 


3,470,459 


832,735 


3,275,217 


2,311,786 


593,837 


1,609,818 


988,416 


195,976 


732,934 



From this table it appears that in 1857 our State, in 
proportion to her white tax-paying and school attending 
population, was far ahead of nearly all the Southern States 
and most of the New England States ; was the superior, in 
the schoolroom, of even the boasted and the boasting Mas- 
sachusetts ; and was almost the peer of New York and 
Pennsylvania. 

During that year the public school moneys distributed 
among the townships of the State paid 57 per cent, of the 
entire tuition in the public schools, — the total expenditures 
as estimated by the Trustees being $474,370 52. 

This, it must be remembered, was but the third year of 
the public school experiment. 

For the year 1857 we find the following results : 

School fund increased to $281,874 41 

Number of enumerated children 178,0^5. 

Estimating the school statistics of delinquent counties at 
the same as they were reported in 1856, there appears an 



29 

increase in 1857, over 1856, of 175 public schools, 6,008 
pupils registered, and 4,974 average daily attendance. 

The most encouraging indication which a comparison 'of 
the returns for the two years affords, is the remarkable in- 
crease of the amount paid teachers. In 1856 the total 
cost of the public schools to the State and to the people, 
as estimated by the trustees, was $490,278 19. In 1857, 
it was $552,984 11 ; thus indicating greater liberality 'on 
the part of the people in the compensation of teachers, an 
increased demand for better qualifications, and a conse- 
quent improvement in the quality of the instruction afford- 
ed in the public schools. This improvement was undoubt- 
edly the result of the operations of the previous year in 
which the people saw more than half the tuition of the 
children paid by the public fund. 

Gen. Perry, in closing his annua] report for 1857, made 
use of the following argument in support of public educa- 
tion. It is so pertinent when considered in connection with 
the present condition of the Southern people, and with the 
now victorious banners of the Emperor of Germany, that 
the present State Superintendent submits it without com- 
ment : 

" Fifty years ago, the Kingdom of Prussia was smitten 
down by one terrible blow, and lay prostrate at the feet of 
Napoleon. Her splendid army was annihilated. Her fort- 
resses were garrisoned with two hundred thousand enemies. 
Her treasury was exhausted, to meet the contributions 
levied by the insatiate conqueror. She looked to the neigh- 
boring nations in vain for succor. They were either leagued 
with the foe, or, like her, had been crushed beneath his 
iron heel. In her calamity and humiliation, she directed 
her yet unsubdued energies to the development of the in- 
tellectual and moral power of her people, as the only hope 
of ultimate emancipation. An intense national spirit was 
inculcated from the rostrum and the pulpit. Her schools 
became objects of increased attention and care, and insti- 
tutions of learning, and seminaries for teachers sprung up 
throughout the land ; so that the educational system of 
Prussia, baptized in the blood of the disastrous field of 
Jena, rose to newness of life. Though the tracks of the 



30 

conqueror have long since been effaced, her school system, 
the most complete, perhaps, the world has ever known', 
still remains, a monument of wisdom and patriotism, that 
may well put to shame the narrow policy of some of our 
republican statesmanship. 

" Though there is nothing in our condition analogous to 
what has been related, it were well that we learn from it 
lessons of instruction. The relations of this portion of 
our confederacy to the world are such as call loudly for the 
rapid development of its vast resources, material and men- 
tal. It is time that the worm-eaten doctrine were banished 
from our councils, that the security of nations consists in 
their vis inertice, and that ignorance is the true principle of 
conservatism. It is true, that what has been accomplished 
in the past has subserved the purposes of the past ; but it 
would be folly to presume that our present development 
will therefore meet our future necessities. Our experience 
as a people is too short to justify us in judging of what 
will be, by what has been. Already clouds, dark and low- 
ering, hang upon our horizon. No prophet's vision can 
foresee what the future has in store for us ; what fierce 
trials await us ; what great battles we may be called upon 
to fight. No human wisdom can now realize, what we may 
yet be made painfully to feel, how much of strength we 
have lost, through ignorance and vice, and how little of 
strength we were able to spare. We want a population 
that is equal to any and every emergency ; that is incapa- 
ble alike of subjection and of anarchy ; that, in the sun- 
shine of peace, or in the storms of revolution, will make 
the eternal principles of right the rule of their actions, — a 
population such, that, though our present political system 
were ruthlessly torn asunder, and States were shot madly 
from their spheres like comets in space, each one, true to 
the memories of the past, and true to posterity, would 
wheel into its own appropriate place, and revolve, in a new 
orbit, around the same grand center of constitutional free- 
dom." 

PKOSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE. 

Thus has been hurriedly sketched the results flowing from 
the school system down to the approach of the war. From 
1858 to 1869 no reports are found as to the operations of 
the system, but there is every evidence that the public fund 



31 

went for towards paying the tuition of half the children of 
the State who attended private and public schools. 

A new system went int9 operation in 1868, but not ma- 
terially different from the old. Under the old system the 
Township Trustees had complete control of the school 
funds and could aid schools already established, upon the 
excellent principle adopted by Mr. Peabody from the most 
flourishing continental systems, in his munificent grant to 
the Southern people ; but under the new system from July 
1868 down to the present year it was held that the schools 
should be absolutely free and public to all, and that no 
school rates should be allowed to supplement the school 
fund. The result of this rule was that a large number of 
schools were opened ; but they were generally schools which 
accomplished nothing. There were too many pupils for 
the teachers and too many teachers for the fund. The 
sum total of schools and pupils made a large show upon 
paper, but the school was generally closed before the pupil 
had time to learn the alphabet. The Board at its late ses- 
sion went far to correct this error by allowing three schools 
in a country township, (and an unlimited number in city 
townships,) to be so far patronised by private contributions 
as a supplement to the township fund, as to enable them 
to be taught at least five consecutive months in the year. 
It is undoubtedly true that what is gained at no cost is 
lightly appreciated. The public school system could never 
have prospered in Alabama, if the parents had been reliev- 
ed of all obligations and the pupils of all restraints. The 
Superintendent believes that this partial reversion to the old 
system will enlist the active interest of the people and be 
fruitful of greater results than was attained in 1857, when 
Alabama stood proudly in the front rank of States. 

The new system is under the control of a board of educa- 
tion. In this respect the old system had the advantage. 
There is no reason why the committees upon education of 
the two Houses of the General Assembly, during their thirty 
days session, cannot suggest as beneficial improvements 



32 

for this department as can a board of education which sits 
at a cost of several thousand dollars to the State. In 
other respects the two systems are identical, if we may ex- 
cept the fact that in the new System the county superin- 
tendents have been given much of the power which for- 
merly belonged to the township trustees. 

There is not enough difference between the two systems, 
however, to raise a fear that the good results which 
attended public instruction before the war will not continue 
to follow it hereafter. 

THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT. 

The duties devolved by law upon the State Superinten- 
dent are the most onerous that fall to the lot of the officers 
of State. Mr. Duval, in his report for 1858, thus alludes 
to them : 

" Besides, the receipt and disbursement of large sums of 
money, the registry of 16th section notes, the issuing of 
them for suit, the settlements with the Attorney General, 
or his agents, the accounts kept with county superinten- 
dents, and with the fifteen hundred townships in the 
State, there is a large and increasing correspondence to be 
kept up. Legal questions, involving the nicest distinctions, 
are continually arising under the administration of the 
law, and require careful examination; complaints are 
made by trustees and superintendents, or of them, and 
difficulties submitted for adjustment which demand thought- 
ful consideration ; letters from teachers seeking employ- 
ment, from school committees wanting teachers, from those 
who write books, and those who have them to sell, request- 
ing a recommendation, and those who want to purchase, 
desiring advice ; applications for an extension of 16th sec- 
tion debts by those who owe notes, and for patents by 
those who have paid ; letters asking for information, and 
letters volunteering it ; letters upon every imaginable 
question that can be connected with the duties of the of- 
fice, some presenting specimens of kakography, and a con- 



33 

fusion of ideas that would tax the skill of an adept to de- 
cipher, and the ingenuity of counsel to extract a meaning 
from, and others an inexorable hostility to the Queen's 
English, which destroy every hope of a peaceful solution 
of the unfortunate difficulties it has created — and all equal- 
ly requiring answers — all of these are constantly making 
demands upon the time of the Superintendent. 

"Under such circumstances it is impossible that the 
more important duties of thoroughly studying the systems 
of education elsewhere adopted, and comparing their rela- 
tive merits for the purpose of perfecting our own, or of 
giving proper attention to text-books, the modes of teach- 
ing pursued, and determining that which is best adapted 
to the character and condition of our people, can be per- 
formed as it should be. The clerical duties of the Super- 
intendent occupy most of his time, and the minutiae of 
business prevent any continuous or beneficial train of 
thought." 
Besides these duties,there is now devolved upon the Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction the further duty of presid- 
ing over the Board of Education. This year the greater 
part of two months will be absorbed in attendance upon 
that body. He must preside over the Board of Regents at 
Tuscaloosa in June, and must therefore be absent from his 
office just at the time when the county superintendents 
will be sending or coming for their second quarter's fund. 
It is also made his duty by law to collect information with 
regard to the topography of the school districts, and the lo- 
cation and construction of school houses. He must con- 
sult and advise with county superintendents with regard to 
the qualification or teachers. It is also made his duty to 
visit every county in tli£ State annually (an impossibility) for 
the purpose of inspecting the schools, awakening an inter- 
est in education, diffusing information as to the public 
school system by public addresses and personal talk with 
the teachers and parents. He is commanded to open cor- 
respondence abroad and seek for the latest ideas as to 
3 



31 

public schools. He must prepare blanks and circulars, re- 
ports, rules and regulations. He must apportion the school 
fund annually, which labor requires several weeks of close 
and laborious calculation in completing, copying and post- 
ing. He must keep a credit and debit account with each of 
the fifteen hundred townships of the State. 

To do all this the Superintendent must have a compe- 
tent clerical force. He has been given one clerk by the 
Board of Education, with a salary of $1,500. But one 
clerk is not sufficient. It is absolutely necessary that the 
department should have additional clerical force. By a 
mock economy thousands of dollars may be lost to the 
State, whereas they might be saved by an expenditure of a 
few hundred. 

The Superintendent would ask the General Assembly to 
allow this department a contingent fund of fifteen hundred 
dollars annually for the employment of clerical assistance, 
purchase of postage stamps and other incidental expenses 
when necessary, and that such sum be appropriated from 
the general education fund. If the work in this depart- 
ment, which demands more labor than all the other de- 
partments together, is to be done, it should be well done. 

Under the late Superintendent the pay of clerks in the 
department of education was $2,997 75, for the year 1870. 
This sum would not have been too great, if proper ac- 
counts had been kept, and all the duties of the office had 
been attended to. The present Superintendent proposes 
to have proper account books and correspondence kept 
with the sixty-five counties and the fifteen hundred town- 
ships, with the thousands of purchasers and lessees of 
school land, their assignees and their thousands of endor 
sers. But, it cannot be done with the assistance of a sin- 
gle clerk. 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS AND DIRECTORS. 

Gen. Perry, in his report for 1856, said : 

" The substitution, by the law of 185C, of a single officer 



35 

who is required to give bond, and who receives compensa- 
tion for his services, for the boards of county school com- 
missioners, was an advance movement of incalculable im- 
portance. The wisdom of the change will be much more 
apparent when it is remembered that the superintendency 
has not yet had time to develope what it is capable of ac- 
complishing. Many of the superintendents found their 
counties almost entirely unorganized, the people listless 
and indifferent, and the trustees ignorant of their duties ; 
so that the preliminary labor of organizing occupied most 
of the year 185li. It may be true, also, that the results in 
some of the counties have not been fully satisfactory on 
account of unfortunate selections of persons to fill the of- 
fice, or because of the inability of the incumbents, from the 
want of adequate compensation, to devote a sufficient 
amount of time to their duties. These instances, however, 
constitute mere exceptions to the rule. An unprecedented 
impulse has unquestionably been given to the cause of 
common school education in the State, and this is due, in 
a large degree, to the faithfulness and efficiency of the 
county superintendents. 

" The idea is a most fallacious one that it is possible to 
devise a self-executing school law. This mistake has been 
repeatedly committed by other States of the Union, and, in 
every instance, with disastrous results. It is true, that if 
such a law had for its only object, as seems to be thought 
by some, the distribution of a certain amount of money 
among the people, as a sort of gratuity, it might be accom- 
plished by imposing the duty of receiving and disbursing 
funds upon State and county officers elected for other pur- 
poses, and occupied with other engagements. This, as a 
mere system of disbursement, would be defective and inef- 
ficient. Under the present system, each officer is not only 
required to pay out the funds coming into his hands, but 
to hold his subordinate responsible for the proper applica- 
tion of it on his part. Thus the Comptroller's office is so 
complete a check upon this department, that an error of a 



36 

single cent can be instantly detected. The State Superin- 
tendent not only sees the money due each county into the 
hands of its Superintendent, but holds that officer account- 
able by requiring vouchers to be exhibited for the whole 
amount thus received. In like manner the trustees are 
held to a strict accountability by the superintendents ; so 
that a misapplication of the public funds, or even the 
slightest error, on the part of any officer, is speedily discov- 
ered and corrected." 

Mr. DuVal, in his annual report for 1858, thus speaka of 
the office of county superintendent : 

" Certainly, the experience of one who, if not the origi- 
nator of the system in Alabama, was for four years its 
most efficient support, and who preceded me in this office, 
is entitled to great consideration. To his ability and zeal 
some of its best results are attributable ; with sleepless 
vigilance and solicitude he watched the progress of this ed- 
ucational movement, and directed it b} the light of a long 
experience as a practical teacher, and the highest concep- 
tions of the magnitude of his duty. During his term of 
service the system was thoroughly tried without a county 
superintendent ; it was chiefly, if not solely, at his instance 
this office was engrafted upon it. Comparing the two 
modes of conducting it, at a time when, as he was about 
resigning his position, he could be suspected of entertain- 
ing no^other motive but an earnest desire for its success, 
he uttered his deliberate opinion that " it could not have 
survived until the present time (1858) under the adminis- 
tration provided for it by the law of 1854." His position 
had enabled him to survey the whole question, and is sure- 
ly of mofe value than the crude opinions of those who have 
only taken a partial and County view of a State system, 
when such opinions are not always the result of practical 
experience or careful thought. His conclusions are forti- 
fied by those of the superintendents of nearly every State 
whose reports are exchanged with this office. 

" Extracts, at great length, might be made from them, 



37 

showing the greater efficiency of educational systems in 
which a similar office existed, would they not extend un- 
reasonably this report. 

" In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Penn- 
sylvania and California each county has a superintendent. 
In Indiana circuit superintendents have been recommended; 
in Wisconsin the State Superintendent earnestly urges the 
creation of such an office. The advantages derived from 
it are so briefly and concisely set forth in the reports of 
the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Pennsylvania, 
for 1856-7, that it is not inappropriate to insert them here : 
" 1. Organized, well attended and efficient Institutes and 
Associations by teachers for self-improvement. 

" 2. Largely increased interest by directors (trustees) in 
the duties of their office. 

" 3. Improvement in school houses and furniture. 
" 4. Great increase in uniformity of text-books, and im- 
provement in classification. 

" 5. The enlargement of the number of promising quali- 
fied teachers in the profession, and the retirement of by 
far more, who were found to be incompetent. 

" 6. Increase in the salaries of teachers, and in their 
standing and influence as members of society. 

" 7. Manifest improvement in the schools, with a strong 
tendency towards grading them, and the introduction of a 
more liberal course of study. 

" 8. More frequent visits to the schools by parents, and 
a greater interest on their part in the means provided by 
the State, for the intellectual culture of their children. 

" 9. Numerous public examinations and exhibitions, at 
the close of the term, well attended by parents, and show- 
ing a noble conviction on the part of teachers, that their 
duty has been so discharged as not to fear the public eye. 
" 10. Strong emulation not only between neighboring 
schools and districts, but between neighboring counties 
and different and distant sections of the State. 

« 11. Marked improvement in the methods of teaching, 



38 

and more interest in the literature of the profession. 

" 12. A pervading consciousness of the necessity of more 
and better means for the education of teachers, as such, 
and a determination to secure them at the shortest possi- 
ble period. 

The Board of Education, at its recent session, decided to 
retain the County Superintendents and make them elective 
by the people. They improved upon the old system by 
providing that two Directors should co-operate with the 
County Superintendent, and that one of the Directors 
should represent the minority of voters. The three consti- 
tute a Board of Directors to manage the business of the 
county. r ihe County Superintendent is the disbursing and 
executive officer. He may act alone if the Directors fail to 
act. It results from this wise law that if the Directors are 
careless of their duties the County Superintendent need 
not be trammeled. If the County Superintendent is care- 
less of his duties the Directors can control him. The ad- 
vantage of having the minority party of voters in each 
county represented on the Directory must be apparent to 
every reflecting mind. 

The Directors are paid three dollars a day, but for not 
more than eight days of the year. It is respectfully sug- 
gested to the General Assembly that they and the Town- 
ship Trustees, who receive no recompense, be relieved from 
military, jury and road duty. This relief, which the State 
could reasonably give, would, undoubtedly, secure the active 
services of competent men in every county and township. 

Your Excellency will observe that the pay of County 
Superintendents for the year 1809 amounted to $52,624. 
Under the newly organized system the pay of county offi- 
cers cannot be more than — 

For County Superintendents — 

Five per cent, on $600,000 $30,000 

Traveling and visiting 6,5(J0 

For 130 Directors, eight days, $3 per day 3,120 

$39,620 



39 

This amount averages $660 per annum to the county. 
In the larger counties it will be much more, and in the 
smaller counties so much less that the fear is a competent 
man will not forsake other business to attend to the duties 
of the office. 

It has occurred to the Superintendent, as supervision of 
the counties is absolutely necessary, and as a sum of not 
less than $36,000 is required to secure the services of proper 
officers, and as the whole time of an officer cannot be 
secured for so small an amount to each county, that it 
might be well, instead of County Superintendents, to have 
Circuit Superintendents, with jurisdiction over a judicial 
circuit, and with a salary«of $2,500 or $3,000. Such a sal- 
ary, and the election of the circuit officer being reposed in 
the Legislature, would secure the first talent of the State 
and the undivided attention of the Superintendent. Pro- 
posing a similar plan for Indiana in 1855, the State Super- 
intendent of that State said : 

" The experience of the past two years has developed no 
defect in our system more fully and clearly than the neces- 
sity of efficient supervision. The public interests demand 
that this department be so organized that every township 
shall be visited annually, more or less of the schools pass 
under the scrutiny of an officer superior to the Township 
Trustees, teachers' institutes be annually held in every 
county in the State, and the school Trustees and friends of 
education in every township be stimulated and encouraged 
by the annual visits, lectures and counsels of men whose 
zeal, tact, talents and attainments would make them worthy 
coadjutors of the State Superintendent. Such an organi- 
zation would impart life, energy and importance to this 
department of the public interests and secure results of the 
most cheering character. 

"Let there be ten such subordinate Superintendents, 
each of them would have, on an average, a circuit embrac- 
ing nine counties, containing about ninety-four townships* 
Let each be required to spend two days in every township 



in the following manner : in the forenoon visit, in company 
with the Trustees, one school, in the afternoon another and 
in the evening, according to previous notice, address the 
young people of the township on self-improvement, or some 
kindred topic, point out the value of such training and sug- 
gest some of the means of obtaining it, call their attention 
to the township library, show its value and connection with 
self- culture, describe its treasures and show them how to 
make these stores of knowledge their own by a judicious 
course of reading ; let the next forenoon be spent in visiting 
a third school, and the afternoon be employed in conferring 
with, counseling and encouraging the teachers of the town- 
ship, actual, ex and prospective, who might choose to meet 
him. Such interviews would bring him into close contact 
with the instructors of the several townships of his circuit, 
enlist mutual sympathy and confidence, awaken esteem and 
give him an influence over them that might result in great 
good to the cause and to them individually. His two days' 
mission in each of his ninety-four townships might very 
appropriately close with an address to the citizens on some 
topic connected with their educational duties. Such lec- 
tures would tell effectively on school-houses, text-books 
furniture, discipline, punctuality, moral and intellectual 
training, domestic habits and kindred topics. They would 
inspire fresh zeal in the friends of education, furnish them 
with new arguments, disarm opponents, impart boldness to 
the timid and convert foes of the cause into staunch and 
reliable friends. 

" Having spent the legal time in township visitation, he 
would be prepared to gather around him a large number of 
the teachers of each county in a teachers' institute. Many 
teachers who might be materially improved by the exercises 
of such institutes could be induced to attend them from 
their acquaintance with and confidence in the Vice Super- 
intendent who, under any other circumstances, could not be 
reached by this mode of culture. This programme of 
township visitation and teachers' institute* of a week's 



41 

duration in each county would close his annual circuit, re- 
quiring about forty weeks' labcr. The institutes would 
more appropriately occur in the spring and autumn, five 
weeks in the former and four in the latter, introductory to 
the summer and winter schools. 

" A man competent for such functions would take rank 
with, if not above, our Circuit Judges, both in attainment 
and emolument." 

TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES. 

The fault found with Township Trustees under the old 
system is thus expressed by Mr. DuVal : 

" The absence of any directions as to the mode of ap- 
portioning the public funds belonging to a township has 
already been alluded to as a serious evil, and a remedy 
suggested. The power of the trustees in locating schools 
and determining the number which should be established, 
should be restrained, and an appeal given from their de- 
cision to the County Superintendent, whose position re- 
moves him from the influence of the local quarrels which 
distract a township. Some penalty should be imposed upon 
the trustees for failure to make their reports in the time 
and manner prescribed by the law ; not only do the teach- 
ers suffer by this neglect in any given year, but a failure 
to report for two consecutive years forfeits to the general 
fund the entire appropriation belonging to the township 
within that period." 

The Board of Education at their late session obviated 
these difficulties, by placing the County Superintendent 
and Directors in immediate relation with the schools and 
teachers. The Board of Directors must see to it that the 
township funds are carefully guarded and appropriately 
applied. They may remove Trustees and appoint others. 
If the Trustees fail to act the County Superintendent is 
authorized to act in their stead. This power virtually de- 
volves upon the County Superintendent the duty of seeing 



42 

in person that no more teachers are employed in a town- 
ship than the fund will justify, that they forward their re- 
ports, and that they are paid properly and promptly. 

The teachers must no longer look to the Trustees for 
payment, but to the County Superintendent. In order to 
secure prompt payment to the teachers, the present State 
Superintendent has decided, in apportioning the school 
fund, to deduct the amount which will be required to pay 
the County Superintendent and Directors, and then appor- 
tion the remainder among the townships. At the begin- 
ning of the first quarter the County Superintendent can 
draw the first quarter's fund, but will not be allowed to 
draw his ealary or the pay of the Directors until he reports 
the vouchers covering that fund. The law allows him five 
per cent, upon the amount of disbursements, and one hun- 
dred dollars for traveling expenses. But it can not be 
known what he has disbursed or how much traveling he 
has done until the vouchers and reports are returned to 
this office. As the reception of salaries will depend on the 
correctness and expedition of the reports and vouchers for 
the quarter, it is hoped that we may have more promptness 
hereafter in the payment of teachers and in the forward- 
ing of reports. 

By relieving the Trustees from military, jury and road 
duty, it is believed that the County Superintendents can 
secure the co-operation of active and intelligent men in 
each township. 

In 1869, the pay of Trustees amounted to $22,549 92. 
For 1870 the expenses of Trustees can not at present be 
definitely ascertained, but will swell up to a great amount. 
Hereafter the Trustees will receive no pay. 

The power given to the Board of Directors " to super- 
vise the general interests of the free schools of the county," 
meets another difficulty which has destroyed the efficiency 
of our public schools during the past two years, the es- 
tablishment by the Trustees of too many schools. Gen. 
Perry alludes to this difficulty as follows : 



43 

'There are few townships whose density of population 
or peculiarities of surface require more than three or four 
public schools, yet five or six are not unfrequently estab- 
lished. The public fund is thus frittered away upon a 
multitude of small schools, whose existence proves injuri- 
ous, if in no other way, by dividing the strength of neigh- 
borhoods, and preventing the establishment of such as 
deserve to be sustained. The labor of four men is per- 
formed by six, and one of two things must follow ; either 
the burdens of the people must be greatly increased, or 
the compensation of teachers reduced. The first is wrong, 
because unnecessary ; the second, disastrous to the inter- 
ests of the children, because it leads to the employment of 
cheap teachers, in other words, those who are totally unfit 
for the business. Should it be thought advisable to im- 
pose a check upon this tendency, perhaps the most effec- 
tual method will be to assign a limit, — varying according 
to the educational population of the townships — beyond 
which the Trustees shall not go in the establishment of 
schools, without the consent of the County Superintend- 
ent." 

DISBURSEMENT OF THE SCHOOL FUND. 

Under the old system, on the 1st of December of each 
year, the State Superintendent sent to the County Super- 
intendents, statements of the fund due each county for the 
year just closed. The Tax Collector of each county was 
required to deposit by January 1st with the County Su- 
perintendent the amount thus declared by the State Su- 
perintendent to be due, or so much as he had collected by 
that time. The receipts taken for this amount, when ap- 
proved by the Probate Judge, were received by the Comp- 
troller in payment of so much taxes due the State by such 
tax collector. The advantage of that plan of disburse- 
ment is obvious. It keeps the money at home and pre- 
vents the necessity of delay and of express charges in 
forwarding it to the State Treasury aDd then returning it to 
the county. 



14 

Under the present system the school fund goes out from 
the State Treasury to the counties. This is inconvenient* 
The small salaries of County Superintendents will not 
justify their coming after the money. If they send pow- 
ers of attorney to draw the money, there is risk of loss. 
It has been discovered that a large amount of the school 
fund due several counties last year was drawn from the 
Treasury upon powers of attorney and embezzled. Such 
provisions should be made by law as will henceforth place 
such a catastrophe beyond possibility. 

It is respectfully suggested that we return immediately 
to the old plan. If the taxes of any county should not 
equal the amount apportioned to that county for the 
schools, it might be provided that the tax collector of an 
adjoining county shall meet the deficit. It was thought 
that the Board of Education had no power to impose du- 
ties upon tax collectors, and hence the perfecting of a plan 
for reaching the school fund conveniently must devolve on 
the General Assembly. 

It is also respectfully suggested, that the poll tax of each 
county, or even each township, be applied to the schools 
of such township and county. This provision would doubt- 
less enlarge that fund. Your Excellency will observe that 
the receipts from the poll tax for last year are about 
$82,500. This amount was collected from less than 54,0.0 
persons. 

Would it not be well for the County Superintendent to 
be empowered to collect that tax, giving him five per cent 
on the amount collected, and providing that the tax be 
collected in November ? One of the difficulties in the way 
of collecting the poll tax at present is, that large numbers 
of persons change their locality on the first of January, 
after the tax is assessed and before it can be collected. 

INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING. 

There is no report in this department from the institute 
for the deaf and dumb, or from the medical college at Mo- 



45 

bile both of which institutions properly fall under the su- 
pervision of the Board of Education. The Board have 
taken no action for the benefit of those institutions, and 
no steps to revive the Law School at Montgomery. 

It comes within the province of the General Assembly 
alone, to put in operation the Congressional grant in aid 
of an Agricultural College. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 

For the past two years, this institution has been in a 
deplorable condition. The Superintendent has no report 
as to its operations for the past two years ; and can find no 
record in the department as to the money which has been 
paid out for it, or as to the result of its operations, except 
the following communication from Hon. Wm. R. Smith, 
the present President : 

University oe Alabama, 
President's Office, Tuskaloosa, Jan. 25, 1871. 

To the Hon. Joseph Hodgson, 

Superintendent of Public Instruction 

' of the State of Alabama : 
Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of 10th inst, I submit 
the following brief statements relative to the present condi- 
tion of the University. It is unnecessary to refer to the 
embarrassed condition of the institution when I took 

charge of it. 

In July last, 1870, upon being advised of my election, 
as President, I entered upon the discharge of my duties. 
There were then four Professors, as follows : 

J.DeP. Richards, Prof, of Nat. Sciences and Astronomy. 

N. R. Chambless, Prof, of Mathematics. 

D. L. Peck, Prof, of Ancient Languages. 

H. S. Whitfield, Prof, of English Literature. 

On the 30th July, 1870, Prof. Chambless resigned, 
and I transferred Prof. H. S. Whitfield to the chair of 
Mathematics, and took upon myself the discharge of the 



46 

duties of his chair. At this time, there are but three Pro- 
fessors, as above, omitting the name of N. E. Chambless. 

The annual expenses of the University, as matters now 
stand, may be estimated as follows : 

The President's salary per annum $3,000 00 

Each Professor $2,500 7,500 00 

The contingent expenses, so far as I am prepar- 
ed to judge, may be set down at about $1,200 

per annum 1,200 00 

There is a carpenter's shop attached to the 
University, and a carpenter kept in constant 
employment at $50 per month 600 00 



Total $12,300 00 

This employee has been engaged heretofore, as he is at 
present, in attending to the ordinary repairs of the build- 
ings, and in making and repairing the tables, desks, &c, at 
the establishment. 

THE BUILDINGS. 

Besides the new building, recently completed, which is 
ample for the accommodation of 200 cadets, affording at 
the same time, commodious offices and recitation rooms, 
there are five (5) houses for Professors ; the President's 
mansion, and the observatory. Some of these buildings 
especially the old ones, are more or less dilapidated, and it 
will require considerable expenditure to make them com- 
fortable. Outside of the college enclosures there are two 
other buildings, which afforda small income in the way of 
rents. 

I do not know the exact number of the acres of land 
owned by the University at this locality, but I think not 
less than five hundred acres. Attached to each building 
are ample gardens ; and there is abundant room here for 
agricultural experiments. 

The University owns some valuable coal lands ; and it 
may be proper to state, that one of these coal mines yields 



47 

an annual rental of 2,300 bushels of coal delivered. (Am- 
ple fuel for all present purposes.) 

The catalogue of cadets now reaches the meagre number 
of twenty-one ; and there is not much probability of an in- 
crease to any great extent, under present auspices. 

The library consists of about 1,200 volumes. This is 
the remnant of the burnt library. The attention of the 
Regents should be directed, at an t early day, to this sub- 
ject. 

I will, at the proper time, submit a more formal and 
elaborate report ; and in the meantime ^will be pleased to 
furnish you any special^information on] any subject not 
here referred to, if you win ^ direct! my attention to it. I 
have not thought proper, in."this communication, to offer 
any suggestions as to what ought to be done on the many 
vital questions involving the future prosperity of the Uni- 
versity, but will probably avail myself of another opportu- 
nity to do so. Yery Respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
W. R. SMITH, 
President U. A. 

The'Board of Regents will meet at Tuskaloosa in June, 
and take such action it is to be hoped as will give the Uni- 
versity an efficient corps of Professors who may enlist the 
sympathies and co-operation of our people. Tuscaloosa 
will soon be of easy access. The health of the locality is 
excellent. The buildings are ample. The endowment of 
the University is munificent. There is no reason why the 
five hundred youth who leave the State annually to attend 
other colleges may not be induced to matriculate at our 
own University. All we need is a good, laborious faculty. 

The principal of the University endowment is $300,000. 
The annual interest is $24,000. This sum should give the 
University a president with a salary of $2,500, eight full 
professors at $2,000 each, three adjunct professors at 
$1,500, each and a contingent fund of $1,000. If a univer- 



48 

sity cannot be built up with such an endowment to sustain 
it it will be because the Board of Education refuse to se- 
lect as professors men who have the highest confidence and 
sympathy of the people. 

It is respectfully suggested that in view of the untoward 
circumstances which have destroyed the usefulness of the 
University since the war, the collection of the debt due the 
State for money loaned for rebuilding be either remitted or 
postponed for several years. Equitably, the loss of the 
buildings by the torch of the United States troops should 
fall rather upon the State than upon the University. The 
State converted it into a military academy and ordered its 
cadets into the field. 

If, however, the finances of the State do not admit of a 
complete remission of the debt, it is urged upon the General 
Assembly to postpone the payment of installments until 
1874 to enable the University to rise from its ashes and 
overcome the obloquy under which it rests. 

The University fund might be greatly increased by an 
act converting the ninety-nine years leases of University 
lands into fee simple at the option of the holders upon 
payment of principal and interest to date. Large quanti- 
ties of valuable lands were leased rather than sold in order 
to enable poor men to become purchasers. These leases 
have been running thirty and forty years. In many cases 
the holders have died and their children ceased paying in- 
terest years ago. The law provides that upon failure to 
pay the interest the lands revert to the State. It is sug- 
gested that if the State were to hold out the offer the occu- 
pants of those lands would gladly convert their leases into 
fees simple. If it is objected that the lands are more valu- 
able now than when they were leased, and that they should 
not be sold in 1870 for what they were leased for in 1825, 
it is answered that the principal upon which the lessees 
have been paying interest for forty years is, probably, a 
greater sum than that for which the lands could have been 
sold at the time of lease. If the lessees choose now to pay 



49 

the principal and interest in full to date they will occupy 
the same position with those who purchased fees simple at 
that date. They certainly should not occupy a worse posi- 
tion. The money for which the lands were sold was paid 
into bank and drew six per cent, interest. The principal 
of the money for which the lands were leased was, so to 
speak, vested in the poor settler, and drew eight per cent, 
interest. It is fair that the poor settler who wishes to 
leave his homestead to his children should be allowed to 
occupy as good a position as the purchaser who was able 
to buy a fee simple. 

Tour Excellency's attention is asked to the following 
communication from Colonel J. L. Tait, who was em- 
ployed, under direction of the Board of Education, to ex- 
amine into the condition of the apparatus at the Univer- 
sity : 

Montgomery, Ala., ) 
January i4th, 1871. ) 

Col. Joseph Hodgson, 

President of the Board of Regents: 

Sir: Having received your instructions under authority 
of the Board to inspect and report upon the character 
value and state of preservation of the scientific and other 
instruments of the University, together with the cabinets 
of natural history, palaeontology, lithology and mineralogy, 
belonging thereto, I proceeded at once to Tuskaloosa and 
placed myself in communication with the executive com- 
mittee of the faculty who afforded me every facility for the 
purposes of my visit. The valuable property which forms 
the subject of my report was luckily contained in the ob- 
servatory, and being a detached building at some distance 
from the University, escaped the destruction by fire with 
which the main building was ruthlessly destroyed, and by 
this most fortunate circumstance, at least forty thousand 
dollars worth of costly and rare instruments and cabinets 
that could not easily be replaced, and that evidently had 
4 



50 

been the work of years to collect and arrange, has been 
saved for the future use and instruction of the students of 
the University. 

The largest and most valuable instrument examined was 
an Astronomical Telescope, which is mounted in the obser- 
vatory on a rotary table, and the dome revolves in con es- 
pondence therewith. The largest object glass has been 
removed, and as it could not be replaced for a less cost 
than probably two thousand dollars, it is to be hoped that 
it may be recovered. I was informed that probably Dr. 
Garland, a former president of the institution, might be 
able to give some information respecting it. In other re- 
spects this high class instrument appeared in good order 
and fair preservation. There are three other telescopes 
graduated in size, that appeared to have all their parts 
adjusted for immediate use, and will be found valuable for 
astronomical use in the future. These telescopes are all 
of the highest order, having been manufactured by a firm 
of the most eminent philosophical instrument- makers in 
London, and are constructed on modern scientific princi- 
ples. There is a large spirit level adjusted to the largest 
Telescope for determining the position of its axis, and a 
couch, the position of which can be adjusted by the stu- 
dent at will when in use. 

There are two astronomical clocks supplied by Dent, of 
London, contained in the building, that appeared to be 
complete in all their parts, and the well known character of 
that eminent maker, is a guarantee for their quality and 
value. 

These six instruments could not have cost the State less 
than thirtv thousand doliars, and should be carefully ex- 
amined, adjusted, cleaned and covered up, as their preser- 
vation is a matter of much importance for the future of the 
institution in a scientific point of view. In addition to the 
above, I observed a variety of scientific and chemical in- 
struments and apparatus of considerable value, many of 
the parts of which were detached and scattered about in 



51 

the cupboards and cases of the Observatory. A large air 
pump and receiver and blow-pipe apparatus, of a large 
size ; also, a goniometer, a large microscope, with slides 
containing specimens of entomology, an instrument for 
determining specific gravity, and others for generating 
gasses, were among the number. 

The greater number of these smaller apparatus were in 
a very unsatisfactory condition as to preservation, and will 
be a great loss to the University if not soon attended to. 
There was also a large assortment of chemical re- agents, 
as also German flasks, Wolfe's bottles, retorts, test tubes 
graduated glasses and acid bottles of various sizes for a 
chemical laboratory. The Cabinets contain Lithological 
and Palfeontological specimens illustrative of various 
geological formations. A large assortment of fossils from 
the carboniferous formation of Alabama, most important 
as illustrative of the mineral geology of the State and 
various fossils illustrative of the Silurian Permian and 
Tertiary periods in Geological time were observed. 

There was also a number of minerals and crystals that 
will be found valuable in the practical teaching of the 
science of mineralogy. 

A number of specimens of Natural History were also 
scattered about and intermingled with fossil remains and 
specimens of conchology, many of which were rare and 
delicate, and the loss of which, I fear, would be irreparable. 

It would take at least a month, and possibly two, to as- 
sort, arrange and label these specimens so as to render 
them useful for class purposes. 

The great value of these articles, the difficulty of re- 
placing them in a reasonable time, and the comparatively 
small expense of having them arranged and preserved be- 
fore they become altogether useless, is too obvious to re- 
quire any comment from me. When it is considered that 
the students of the near future are the men, who, it is to be 
hoped, will be by their knowledge of the natural sciences 
called upon to develop the great mineral resources of the 



52 

State, and that to do so practically, they must have speci- 
mens to familarize them with their counterparts in nature, 
it will be at once seen that simple text books will not alone 
answer the purpose of practical knowledge. If we con- 
sider fuither, that cabinets of specimens are the careful 
collections of years, and that in most instances no money 
can purchase them, it is of the utmost importance that 
when once obtained, they should be preserved with care as 
precious heirlooms for succeeding generations. 

The limited time at my disposal, precluded me from 
making anything more than a general inspection, and the 
large number and great value of the articles inspected, 
leads me to hope that authority will be given me to place 
them in a state of preservation for future usefulness. 
I have the honor to be sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

J. L. Tait, P. G. S. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

For two years past there have been a number of Normal 
schools in operation, but, as before stated, this department 
has no information as to the good they have done. At 
the last session of the Board, the old schools were abol- 
ished, and a bill was passed establishing thirteen normal 
schools, seven for the training of white teachers, and six 
for the training of colored teachers. This was three times 
as many as the State of New York possessed for twenty- 
five years, and more than twice as many as she possesses 
to-day. Your Excellency has seen proper to withhold 
your signature from that bill. 

But, after a short while, we will be compelled to train 
teachers for our public schools, if we wish them well 
taught. The day for importing teachers should be past. 
If we have the wages to offer, it is true we can always se- 
cure teachers among our home people, but it must be re- 
membered that one dollar will accomplish better education 
under a trained teacher than two dollars under an inef- 



53 

ficient one. It is economy to have good Normal schools. 
For the present and for some time to come, it appears to 
the Superintendent that one Normal school for white teach- 
ers in connection with the University, another for white 
teachers in connection with an Agricultural college to be 
located in the Tennessee Valley, another for colored teach- 
ers in connection with the Swayne Academy at Montgom- 
ery, and another in connection with some colored Academy 
at Mobile, would meet all the wants of this department. 

As this question of Normal schobls is of much interest, 
and as it is desirable that the peoplo should be informed 
as to their benefits and become interested in their estab- 
lishment, attention is respectfully asked to the following 
remarks of Gen. Perry in his report for 1857: 

" It is growing quite common to hear unmeasured de- 
nunciations against the encouragement of teachers and 
text-books from certain localities. Our public journals 
often become eloquent on the theme, and grave delibera- 
tive assemblies make it the burden of many a " resolution." 
All this is natural enough, and if kept within reasonable 
limits, is not improper. But it ought to have occurred to 
those who are so zealous for home teachers and a home 
educational literature, that to secure them, we need acts 
much more than resolves ; and that the only method which 
the laws of trade have ever discovered to prevent the im- 
portation of an indispensable article, is to create a home 
supply. 

But to resume. There are, no one can tell how many, 
thousands of young men and women iu our State, before 
whom stretches out the prospect of a life of unprofitable 
toil, if not of vicious indolence and crime, that would eager- 
ly seize the opportunity to qualify themselves for an occu- 
pation so useful, so honorable, and, compared with what 
they can now hope to pursue, so profitable. It is a great 
mistake to suppose that other pursuits, by the higher re- 
wards which they offer, have monopolized all the talents 
which the country affords. The expenses attending a 



54 

course of instruction in our higher seminaries of learning 
are so great, that most of those who can afford them are 
able to live without engaging in a vocation so laborious 
and responsible. The talents that might be thus engaged 
are, therefore, left to rust and decay, while the cultivated 
intellect either lapses into indolence, or seeks other fields 
of labor. 

" Nor need the fear be entertained that the people would 
frown upon the movement which we have been consider- 
ing. The singular unanimity with which they have declar- 
ed in favor of our public educational system, the tenacity 
with which they clung to it in the days of its infantile 
weakness and inefficiency, and the dignified retirement with 
which, as a general thing, they have honored those aspi- 
rants for place who have taken a stand against it, consti- 
tute sufficient assurance that they will sustain every judi- 
cious effort to impart to that system the greatest possible 
capacity for good." 

STATEMENT OF NORMAL SCHOOLS TAUGHT IN 1870 — THE AMOUNTS APPOR- 
TIONED AND THE AMOUNTS PAID OUT. 



Amount 
apportioned 



Amount 
Paid. 



Hnutsviile. 
Talladega.. 



Marion. 

Mobile 

Athens 

Ely ton 

Eufanla 

Evergreen and Sparta. 

Montgomery 

Mountain Home 

Portersville 

Prattville 

Scott sboro 

Selina 

Tuscaloosa 

Tuscumbia 




3,t>18 60 

3,784 22 

486 36 

1,328 00 

800 00 

185 95 

1,500 U0 

800 00 

593 70 
751 05 
800 00 
800 00 
400 00 
533 32 



Total $25,000.00 



516,582 10 



55 

CONCLUSION. 

The people of Alabama feel a deep anxiety in the suc- 
cess of public instruction. They have passed through 
those preliminary stages through which Prussia, Scotland, 
Virginia and New England passed — an opposition to being- 
taxed to support a public school fund, and an opposition 
to public instruction, because it can offer but little more 
than the rudiments of information. They have lived to 
see the school house of the State diminish the number of 
paupers and felons. They have lived to see the possession 
of simply the alphabet a talisman in the hand of the 
humblest citizen for increasing the aggregate wealth of the 
State and intensifying patriotic devotion. They have lived 
to see public instruction survive its last enemy, and to be- 
hold its power illustrated in the recent fall of one mighty 
empire and the rise of another. 

The remembrance of what public instruction accomp- 
lished in Alabama, under Perry and DuVal, in 1857, 1858, 
and 1859, has not been forgotten by the people. They 
remember that in those years, when the system had hardty 
been organized and before the war had stricken it down, 
more than half of the tuition of the children who attended 
school was paid by this department, and that the propor- 
tion of children to the whole tax-paying population, who 
attended school, was greater than that of twenty- five of 
the thirty-two States of the Union. They remember also, 
that in those years, the average number of months dur- 
ing which the schools were taught, was more than six. 
They remember that when only one-twentieth of the popu- 
lation attended school in France, one-tenth in Eugland, and 
one-sixth in Prussia, the proportion in Alabama of schol- 
ars to the white population was 89,150 to about 450,000, 
or nearly one- fifth. 

They believe that what was accomplished in those years 
may be accomplished again. Although the number of 
children to be provided for is twice as great as then, the 
school fund is also twice as great. 



56 

How the school fund is to be made most effective for the 
future, is a question which rests with the General Assem- 
bly and the Board of Education. It would not be becom- 
ing for the Superintendent, with an experience in this De- 
partment of only a few weeks, to suggest to your Excel- 
lency, or to recommend ta the General Assembly, anything 
further than will occur to every intelligent mind from the 
facts stated in this report. 

There is one thing, however, against which he would 
raise a word of warning — too much legislation for public 
schools. The bane of Alabama for some years has been 
too much government, and with two Legislatures over this 
department the fear is that the public school system may 
be legislated to death. Public education requires the op- 
eration of government only as a public trustee. It must 
be left in a great measure with the people themselves in 
their respective townships to carry into effect the general 
directions of government. After the State supplies the 
fund and provides the most efficient means for its prompt 
and just disbursement, the filling up of the details should 
be left to the people as much as possible. The more the 
management of details is taken from the people and 
brought nearer to the central power of government the less 
efficient will become a system of public instruction. 
I am, very respectfully, &c, 

Joseph Hodgson. 



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